[Sidponcho]

My Company is considering moving away from Verizon and to ATT.
We travel all over the US and some International.
Who do you use, in what area, and how do you like it?

[johnta1]

Verizon, works everywhere I go.
Know bunch of people with ATT who can't connect or is very poor when around me.

Cousin just went with the Consumer Cellular (or whatever it's called).
He can't receive or send calls while in his house?
Uses ATT system I believe, not Verizon for sure.
They were on Verizon.

[David Jones]

I've been on Verizon for 20ish years. The rest of my family was with ATT for a good while and recently moved to Verizon also. We had ATT land lines and internet here at the office and found both spotty at best and then contacting a human that could actually do something to help was engineered to be nearly impossible. Porting the lines when we moved to Spectrum was again, engineered to be a complete pain in the butt. Then ATT kept billing us for 6 months AFTER they turned the numbers loose. I hope they still have somebody waiting by the mailbox for that check.

[68lemans462]

verizon is by far the best in terms of coverage.

[Dennis H.]

Funny how everything works, but a lot depends on where you live. I have had Sprint, T-mobile, Verizon, and now have use AT&T towers using Straight Talk. Sprint headquarters is here in KC, and it is the worst service I have ever had, next worst was T-Mobile(service spotty and inconsistent). Verizon and AT&T to me have been pretty good service providers, although I have gotten better range with AT&T. Again, this is for my service area and my experience, I now you will get opposing opinions from different service areas. I love my Straight Talk service I get through Wal-Mart, and pay $45.00 per month for each phone for unlimited minutes and data, and no contracts, you can keep your phone number, use your own phone. I have had it for 5 years now, and no thoughts of changing.

[gtohunter]

Had an a/c repairman to the house to repair a/c unit. He couldn't call out to tech support with his AT&T phone and had to borrow mine...Verizon !

[John Eiseman]

Yes..it depends on where you live and where your providers have cell towers. Att works good where I live. Most neighbors have the same. Verizon does has better service or coverage in most areas though. Just not where I live.. which is out in the sticks.

[71GP76TA]

Verizon here. AT&T sucks

[dataway]

If you look at the data most carriers are within 4% of the same coverage nationwide. It all depends on where you are located. Areas saturated with Verizon are unlikely to be appealing to ATT and vice versa.
Traveling nationwide or world wide your experience is going to be the same with just about any provider. Go 30 miles from where Verizon is the best, and ATT will be the best, go thirty miles from there and Verizon may be the best again.

Easy to choose if you are talking about coverage in about a 30 mile radius. If you are talking about nationwide coverage it going to be the same, people only notice when they CAN'T get a signal, not when they can. When roaming, most carriers pass you off to other carriers if the area is poorly served by their own equipment.

There are numerous coverage maps available online, check the maps and see which carrier provides the most service in the areas you are likely to be spending time.

I'm with ATT, real happy with them except for their European data costs, stupid expensive $300 for a couple of gigs, but at least it's reasonably fast and reliable.

[The Champ]

I spent about 17 years in the wireless industry dating back to 1991. In the area I worked in the wireless industry, it is now owned and operated by Verizon.

Sprint and TMobile are what we referred to as "spider web" networks. They have good coverage in major metropolitan areas and along major highways.

AT&T is better, but still is lacking in buildout of a nationwide network.

Until last March, I traveled most of southern MN and northern IA for an ACDelco warehouse distributor. My employer provided all of it's reps with Verizon phones due to our travels in areas that AT&T, TMobile and Sprint cover poorly. When I would work with factory reps - many of them had the other carriers. It was not unusual for them to need to use my phone to make calls.

My wife travels all over North America for work. She has worked as far north as Dawson Creek, British Columbia and as far south as Tampa, Florida. She too has run into situations where coworkers (who live all over the U.S.) have one of the other carriers and find their phones unusable.

That is not to say that Verizon works everywhere. It doesn't.

But it works better more often than not.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by dataway

Traveling nationwide or world wide your experience is going to be the same with just about any provider.

This is simply not true.

If you look at a coverage map for each carrier, it is obvious that Sprint and TMobile aren't any where near AT&T's network.

And AT&T is behind Verizon in it's actual service network.

Verizon:



AT&T



TMobile



Sprint



None of these maps are totally accurate - as they don't show enough detail to delineate actual service in localized areas (big area - small map).

[Chief of the 60's]

Originally Posted by The Champ

I spent about 17 years in the wireless industry dating back to 1991. In the area I worked in the wireless industry, it is now owned and operated by Verizon.
.

Originally Posted by The Champ

I've been in sales and sales management since 1978 (mostly outside sales and management of outside sales) - after 6 years in the service. Semi - retired now - working 3 days a week in - you guessed it - outside sales.

LOL So which is true?

[dataway]

Basically there are two ways to calculate coverage ... geographic area, or population served. For the traveling salesman coverage in ArmPit South Dakota might be necessity, for someone else, solid service metropolitan Baltimore might be more important .. meaning higher network capacity, more 4G etc.

On physical map, coverage of South Dakota looks great ... but it doesn't serve many people. Also physical maps rarely show quality or speed of service. And of course many providers will hand you off to another carrier in areas they don't cover, depending on your plan, so it's not like you can't make a phone call.

I used T-mobile a couple of years that we were in Europe for a while .... free unlimited data .... however, it was 2G, so not the deal it sounded like, and of course none of the providers were T-mobile, you got handed off to whoever the local provider was.

If your company is going to be sending anyone out of the country for any length of time ... I'd look elsewhere than ATT, they seem to have the most horrendous prices for data. I still use them because I can keep my same number and receive calls just like I was still in the states. They are very reliable in Europe and elsewhere, but not competitive price wise in that market.

[vidguy]

My experience across the country and in Europe is that Verizon has coverage in areas where no other provider does.

HOWEVER you should test using your phone and other peoples phones using other carriers. Or do what I did,a get a month to month phone on AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon and see what happens.

Buy what works best where you will need the phone the most. Your home.. Your work.

[68 Firebird]

Verizon here and no complaints

[fyrffytr1]

I was on A T & T but couldn't use my phone in my house. I had to walk around outside until I could get a good enough signal to make a call. Even then, if I turned the wrong way the call would drop. I switched to Verizon and haven't had a problem since.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Consumer Celllular in North AL with great reception here to PA and back.

[shawn e.]

Switched from US after15 years to Verizon...best move ever!`

[grrrrregg!!!]

I've never had a problem with my carrier, but I upgrade my phone quite often. Anybody who switch's carriers will get a newer upgraded phone and hence, will have better service. The major carriers are all pretty equal for service. Its all in the details.

[64speed]

I have ATT and the latest IPhone. My sister on Verizon has an iPhone too and we are about the same. Also if you have poor reception in your home or work att will give you an mcell for free which works off the internet connection and eliminates cell phone coverage issues